How to terminate contracts in Switzerland?

Many people think that it is difficult to understand how to terminate contracts in Switzerland. But in reality, it is very simple!😃

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What is a contract?

According to the dictionary, the Internet user¹. A contract is:

“Agreement by which the parties commit themselves, oblige themselves to respect certain things.”

In short, a contract is an obligation to honor the agreement.

Form of contract?

In Switzerland, from a legal point of view, there are 2 types of valid contracts:

Tacit
Written and signed

However, note that in the event of a dispute, it is difficult to prove an implied contract.

Therefore, written and signed contracts should be preferred. ⚠️

What are the most used contracts in Switzerland?

In Switzerland, most of the population signs contracts in order to:

Take out insurance
Open a bank account
Agreeing an employment contract with your employer
Agreeing work with clients
Rental contract for a new home
Conclude subscriptions or cancel a subscription

Note that this article concerns the main laws of the main contracts signed by the Swiss population. For example:

Health insurance (lamal)
Car insurance
A bank account
Employment contract
Subscription with a Swiss company
Internet subscription

In fact, here are the main 4 aspects to consider to understand how to terminate contracts in Switzerland.

1 – Check the termination date

👉 Contracts usually have a minimum duration of use. Therefore, once the contract is signed, the customer must pay for the product at least until the last day of the contract!

➡️ In most cases, the contract duration is 1 year and the deadline to terminate the contract must be sent at least 3 months before the last day of the contract.

However, each contract is different and the notice period varies.

Indeed, the termination periods depend on the contract you signed. Sometimes, contracts can be terminated in 1 month, and others in 3 years.

Trick: Therefore, if you sign new contracts, I suggest you sign contracts with a termination request deadline of maximum 3 months.

What happens if I miss the cancellation deadline and stop paying?

It's very simple. You will have early termination fees or non-payment fees. And if you continue not to pay. You will end up in lawsuits with very expensive fees¹.

Therefore, except for a justified reason for termination, the contract should never be terminated before the end of the contract!

2 – Write a termination letter

➡️ Once you have become aware of the cancellation period. TYou will need to write a signed termination letter.

👉 To make your life easier, I have written a standard letter that you can copy and paste into your word processing software (e.g. Word).

👉 All you have to do is replace what is in parentheses according to your needs. 😊

(Your first name, your last name)

(Your address)

(The date of the letter)

(The name of the company)

(Company address or termination address)

Termination of contract

Madam, Sir

I am (Name, First name), customer number (customer number).

I hereby inform you of the termination of contract no. (contract no.), concerning (the type of contract (e.g. household insurance)) on the date (the termination date stipulated on the contract).

Thank you for the services you have provided me. However, I no longer wish to benefit from this service.

Thanking you in advance for processing my request and asking for written confirmation, I send you my best regards.

(Your Signature)

I'm nice, huh? I did the work for you 😉

👉 In fact, I wrote a version in Libre Office and PDF where you can download for free. You will only have to modify your personal information which is written between the parentheses.

Example Termination Letter (L. Office Version)Download

Sample Termination Letter (PDF Version)Download

Do I need to write a reason for termination?

In most cases. No!

In reality, you are the customer. And after the contract deadline, you are a free person. In most cases, you give an explanation only if you feel like it.

Sometimes insurers or salespeople try to find out why customers cancel their contracts. In reality, their job is to keep customers.

On the other hand, if you have decided to terminate a contract, it is because you believe that there is better elsewhere or that this contract is too much! And that's all 😊

3 – Send the contract termination

Now that your letter is ready, you have to send it!

➡️ You can send this letter by email or send it by registered mail with acknowledgment of receipt (by post). These are the only 2 ways to have proof of sending!

⚠️ If you send a letter by registered mail. You must keep the receipt!

After a few weeks, if you do not receive a termination confirmation by email or by mail. Do not hesitate to call to understand why they did not respond.

Trick : Some companies send you the cancellation confirmation by email, which ends up in the junk folders.

4 – Keep the confirmation

➡️ When you have a confirmation of termination, you will have proof that your contract will be terminated on the termination date written on the contract!

👉 I suggest you take a photo (or a screenshot) of the termination, in order to keep proof for a while!

What to do in the event of a dispute?

In reality, almost all disputes are due to one of these 4 reasons:

Non-payment of the contract
Terminate the contract before the due date
When the customer does not wish to renew the contract after the termination date
Service not provided by the company

In reality, the first 3 lines depend only on you! That is, the customer. Indeed, if you have respected, paid and anticipated the agreements of your contract, the company cannot bother you.

Regarding point 4, concerning a service not provided by the company. This depends on 2 points:

Written service in the contract
Swiss regulations

Therefore, the first point to pay attention to is to analyze whether the service or the claim to be reimbursed that you want is written in the contract. If this is not the case, the company has the right to refuse in the majority of cases.

On the other hand, if the company has indicated a service in the contract and does not wish to provide the service, it is most likely in breach of the contract.

If this is the case, the easiest thing to do is to find an amicable arrangement. This is the least painful solution for both parties.

In the event of a continuing disagreement. In some cases, there is a mediator who will try to find an amicable agreement according to the contract signed.

If the dispute continues. In this case, the only legal solution is the court. And there... good luck with the hours of proceedings.

Legal protection?

In Switzerland, there is optional insurance provided for legal conflicts. This is called legal insurance or legal protection.

The problem is that this insurance is very expensive and is very rarely used.

In addition, having legal insurance can cover certain cases of litigation. But not necessarily the case you will need. Everything will depend on the coverage of the contract you signed with your insurer.

Therefore, I am not saying that legal insurance is not useful, as it is convenient for legal disputes. However, one must evaluate the high costs of insurance each year against the chances of using it.

Conclusion

In Switzerland, the simplest and safest way is to make a written and signed contract.

Indeed, it is important to have the contracts signed by the insurers or the company with which you negotiated a service.

Regarding the customer, there are mainly 3 aspects to pay attention to:

Pay the signed contract
Respect the contract deadline
If the customer wishes to change or terminate the contract, write a registered letter respecting the notice period (which is generally 3 months)

Regarding the termination letter, you have to make a simple and signed letter. Like the example I wrote above. And send it by email or registered mail.

In the event of a dispute concerning a service that the company does not pay for, it is first necessary to analyze whether the service desired by the customer is written in the contract.

If this is the case and the company does not pay, an amicable arrangement must be found.

If this is not possible, you have to go through a court. With complicated administration on Swiss laws and significant costs.

In Switzerland, there is the possibility to pay for legal insurance for these cases. But it is very expensive and rarely useful.

And that's it! You know the essentials to understand how to cancel contracts in Switzerland? It's not that complicated, huh? 😜

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How to cancel contracts in Switzerland?